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Marin the Fox guide - Counters, best decks and mechanics

Everything you need to know about the upcoming expansion freebie!

To celebrate the announcement of the new Kobolds and Catacombs expansion for Hearthstone, Blizzard is providing every player with a free copy of Marin the Fox as of Monday 6th November. Those who either attended BlizzCon in person or watched at home via a Virtual Ticket will receive a Golden version of the card.

How exactly does Marin work though, and what treasures can you expect to see spill out of the Treasure Chest he spawns? To help you get prepared ahead of Monday's launch, we've clarified the mechanics behind this character so you know exactly what to expect when everyone (and we mean everyone slots this character into their deck of choice.

Let's start with a breakdown of how the new card and its associated mechanics actually work.

Marin the Fox overview

Here's the artwork and overview for Marin:

Overview

  • Marin the Fox is an 8 Mana 6 / 6 Neutral card, which means he can be played in any deck.
  • When he's put into play, a 0 / 8 Treasure Chest minion will be added to the opponent's side of the board.
  • If the Marin player can smash that box open (noting that Marin himself doesn't have quite enough strength to get the job done), then they'll receive one of five possible treasure cards.

Treasure cards

Once the box has been burst open, one of the following treasure cards will be randomly selected for the attacker:

  • Golden Kobold - Taunt. Battlecry: Replace your hand with Legendary minions.
  • Master Chest - Deathrattle: Give your opponent a fantastic treasure!
  • Tolin's Goblet - Draw a card and fill your hand with copies of it.
  • Wondrous Wand - Draw 3 cards. Reduce their Costs to 0.
  • Zarog's Crown - Discover a Legendary minion. Summon two copies of it.

Finally, a little bit of footage has cropped up on YouTube this weekend which highlights the Marin mechanics. Watch the start of this to get a feel for how the card works:

Cover image for YouTube video

How to counter Marin the Fox

It's obviously very early days and the card's not even out in the wild yet, but it seems likely that any silencing effect is going to be very useful in this context.

Priests are going to have a blast wiping out the beneficial effects of this box for the opponent, then using cards like Divine Spirit and Inner Fire to turn into a friendly fighting powerhouse. Two Divine Spirits followed by an Inner Fire will be enough to create a one-turn-kill 32 / 32 strength minion.

As for other class counters, we're going to get our thinking caps on and develop this section of our guide further over time - and once we've had a chance to actually play around with the card ourselves. Don't forget to share your own theorycrafting with us in the comments.

The best Marin the Fox decks

There aren't many decks that'll struggle to find room for Marin the Fox in the eight Mana slot, but once the card is out in the wild we're going to add some deck recommendations to this section of the guide.

Inner Fire Priest (Marin the Fox)

PriestNeutral
2 x Circle of Healing2 x Loot Hoarder
2 x Inner Fire2 x Wild Pyromancer
2 x Northshire Cleric2 x Acolyte of Pain
2 x Pint-Size Potion1 x Marin the Fox
2 x Potion of Madness
2 x Power Word: Shield
2 x Divine Spirit
2 x Radiant Elemental
2 x Shadow Visions
2 x Shadow Word: Horror
1 x Lyra the Sunshard
2 x Dragonfire Potion

Control Warrior (Marin the Fox)

WarriorNeutral
2 x Shield Slam1 x Doomsayer
1 x Dead Man's Hand2 x Acolyte of Pain
2 x Execute2 x Stonehill Defender
2 x Sleep with the Fishes1 x Skulking Geist
1 x Fiery War Axe1 x Marin the Fox
2 x Ravaging Ghoul
2 x Shield Block
1 x Blood Razor
2 x Bloodhoof Brave
2 x Alley Armorsmith
2 x Brawl
2 x Ironforge Portal
1 x Grommash Hellscream
1 x Scourgelord Garrosh

Control Warlock

WarlockNeutral
2 x Mortal Coil2 x Mistress of Mixtures
2 x Voidwalker2 x Crazed Alchemist
2 x Defile2 x Tainted Zealot
1 x Drain Soul2 x Stonehill Defender
1 x Howlfiend2 x Twilight Drake
2 x Treachery1 The Lich King
1 x Hellfire1 x Ultrasaur
2 x Despicable Dreadlord
2 x Siphon Soul
2 x Abyssal Enforcer
1 x Bloodreaver Gul'dan

Check back for updates in the very near future!

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John Bedford avatar

John Bedford

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John is Metabomb's Editor in Chief and looks after the day to day running of the site when he's not writing about Hearthstone.

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